More than 'just' similar
Interview with Mag. Helmut Kaisergruber, Managing Director and Co-owner, and Dr. Sabine Möritz-Kaisergruber, Managing Director and Co-owner of Astro Pharma GmbH
Biosimilars, high-quality subsequent products of biologics, are increasingly gaining importance in the international health market. As a more cost-effective alternative, they offer optimal treatment possibilities and contribute significantly to supply security. Astro Pharma Vertrieb und Handel von pharmazeutischen Produkten GmbH in Vienna specializes in biosimilars.
With just under 50 employees, Astro Pharma is a relatively small pharmaceutical company that accomplishes great things. The company offers its own licensed drugs and distributes medications from international manufacturers. Thanks to its lean structure and high flexibility, Astro Pharma can reliably procure even hard-to-find drugs, unlike many larger suppliers.
Doing things differently
The success story of Astro Pharma is closely linked with Dr. Sabine Möritz-Kaisergruber and Mag. Helmut Kaisergruber. They met during their studies in the USA, worked for many years in senior positions in major pharmaceutical corporations around the world, and repeatedly felt the desire to do things differently. In 2004, they decided to start their own company. "Having gathered a diverse range of experience in the industry over many years, we were able to cover all areas of competence of a pharmaceutical company," says Dr. Sabine Möritz-Kaisergruber. "We started with antibiotics from Eli Lilly. It was the ideal start since these were standard antibiotics that everyone knew." At the same time, there were challenges: "As the license holder with all rights and responsibilities, we are responsible for licensing and manufacturing," emphasizes Mag. Helmut Kaisergruber. "Therefore, we had to find suitable contract manufacturers, which involved significant investments."
Small margins, high flexibility
Today, Astro Pharma offers a perfectly rounded portfolio of antibiotics and keeps adding new drugs. "Since antibiotics are among the most cost-effective medicines with very small margins, we soon considered looking into additional fields of activity. We were fortunate to attract companies that were not yet established in Europe and whose products we could market here," says Mag. Helmut Kaisergruber. With biosimilars, new opportunities arose. Astro Pharma launched the second biosimilar in Austria and quickly succeeded. Since then, the company has repeatedly had the opportunity to introduce biosimilars in Austria with its partner companies. "Biosimilars are successors to biological medicines whose patents have expired," explains Dr. Sabine Möritz-Kaisergruber. "These are medicines whose active substances are produced in living cells. We are dealing with very large and complex molecules here. These medicines are therefore more expensive than synthetically produced ones. Even though we always saw the great benefits to the healthcare system and patients, which is also supported by studies, it is a major challenge to create trust that biosimilars have the same efficacy and safety as the original preparations."
Experience meets curiosity
To build this trust, Astro Pharma relies on highly specialized sales representatives who, together with the rest of the organization, take on the task of education. "We have very experienced employees with know-how in various specialties," says Dr. Sabine Möritz-Kaisergruber. "Additionally, we were able to build a younger staff level that in five to ten years will be able to do the same and more as the current management team. Thanks to this mix of young and old, we are convinced that we can best meet upcoming challenges and look forward to a collaboration full of trust and joy in change."